Cutting 1719

Chapter 667 Two Wars Britain Needs to Face
In the winter of 1738, the Royal Opera House in London was overcrowded at this time, and in the distinguished box specially reserved for the theater, Sir Robert Walpole, the British Prime Minister, was accompanying a very important guest to watch the opera "Ariodante". This guest is Russian Foreign Minister Ostelman.

As a veteran politician of the British Whig Party, Sir Robert Walpole was a proper veteran of the two dynasties. He had held important positions since the time of George I, and he had already led the cabinet in 1730, becoming the leader of today's British The actual power holder of the cabinet.

Therefore, it is not the first time that Ostelman has come to London. In fact, he has visited Sir Robert Walpole three times, and the purpose of each visit is to further promote the British government to support Western Russia. , launched a recovery operation against Eastern Russia.

Of course, in the dictionaries of Ostelman and Empress Anna I of Russia, there is no so-called 'Eastern Russia' and 'Western Europe' at all, only the dirty and shameless Elizabeth rebel group that betrayed Russia's interests.

"In fact, Sir Walpole, you should understand that Russia's interests have actually been linked with Britain and even the entire European civilization. The despicable Tartars are seeking to launch an attack on the Western world through Elizabeth's rebellion. If it succeeds, I am afraid that the yellow peril will sweep across the entire Western world again."

Ostelman tirelessly tried to talk about this horrible future. In fact, he talked about the "yellow peril theory" with Sir Robert Walpole every time, but the other party didn't seem to like it very much. Set, every time is a light response, and did not give Ostelman too many promises.

The reason is simple. Sir Robert Walpole is a very principled person. After he experienced the Spanish presumptuous succession war, he deeply agreed that Britain must develop in a peaceful environment. Only in this way can he In order to win more votes from the Tory Party, and this is also more conducive to realizing the balanced interests of Europe.

Therefore, regardless of Ostelman's lobbying, regardless of what other people in the UK think, Sir Robert Walpole has always been trying to prevent the UK from stepping into the vortex of war. To a certain extent, they have reached an agreement that once Britain falls into the war of European affairs, it will undoubtedly delay the development speed of the entire country.

"The yellow peril theory is indeed terrible, but now that Russia hopes to put down the rebellion, it still needs to rely more on itself. Whether it is Britain or Prussia, they do not have too strong interference capabilities."

Sir Robert Walpole sighed softly. He looked at the steadfast foreign secretary and said in a low voice: "You should understand that the British Empire has always firmly believed that avoiding its involvement in large-scale wars will It will win more development space and time for itself. If the British Empire fights an unpredictable war for Russia because of the 'yellow peril theory', it is not in our interests. What's more, the annual foreign trade of the British Empire in China The amount is also rising, which itself is a high cost."

Austerman fell silent. Interests are always the premise of their thinking. Even he himself understands that the possibility of forcing Britain to decisively give up its interests in China is very low without enough benefits. Yes, it's just Russia at the moment, or Russia represented by Anna, what else can it give?
"Barrier. Or a buffer zone"

Ostelman said slowly, his eyes full of helplessness, "Those Tatars are already supporting Elizabeth's rebellion with actions, and they have a lot of firearms and supplies arriving in Tomsk every day, damn it The Saraula is training troops for Elizabeth, and we may not be able to resist—"

These words are of course three points true and seven points false. Da Chu is indeed supporting Elizabeth with supplies and weapons, but the amount is only enough for the other party to resist the attack of Western Russia, and it is impossible to achieve a large-scale counterattack. There is no way to actually train so many troops.

But there is one point that makes Robert Walpole hesitate, that is, Western Russia does have a great buffer value at present, no matter how many threats there are in the east, as long as there are Russians, they can resist the opponent, but If the Russians are gone, or simply join each other, it will be a bit of a problem.

In fact, the situation has already fallen into a very interesting situation here, that is, whether it is Eastern Russia or Western Russia, they all wish to launch a unification war immediately to achieve the goal of unifying the whole of Russia, but for the support behind them As far as those who are concerned are concerned, they are not willing to do so-a divided Russia is the best puppet.

At this time, the curtain call of the opera was officially over, and everyone in the audience was applauding and cheering for the wonderful performance, but at this time the box seemed very quiet, and Sir Robert Walpole clasped his fingers very rhythmically. There was a bit of contemplation on his face.

"There will be a reception in two days. At that time, I will take you to meet the Prince of Wales. I believe he will give you a satisfactory answer."

Ostelman couldn't help showing some gratitude. As Russia's foreign minister, he had a good understanding of the current British political situation, so he naturally understood what Sir Robert Walpole's move meant.

You must know that the Prince of Wales is by no means a simple title in the United Kingdom. It is not only the head of the Principality of Wales, but also since England annexed Wales in 1301, successive British kings have given this title to their eldest sons, and it has become a custom. That is, every 'Prince of Wales' is the Crown Prince of England.

The previous Prince of Wales was King George II, and the current Prince of Wales is Prince Frederick Louis, who, as the current Crown Prince, is often annoyed by Robert Walpole's assertion that he does not have a European interest. And often borrow the very prestigious Duke of Cornwall to sing the anti-tune, especially he has always advocated the removal of Robert Walpole.To put it simply, the two are political enemies with completely different political views.

So in this case, when Sir Robert Walpole expressed his disapproval of Austerman, then Fred would naturally agree, if Austerman peddled his 'yellow peril theory' to Fred for this , will naturally be valued by the other party.

"But why?" Ostelman finally couldn't help asking this question.

Robert Walpole sighed softly, and said in a low voice: "Because of principle, I will definitely not agree to your request, but in terms of the current overall situation, your request is understandable, then this matter Just let the people who have to do it do it.”

Sure enough, a few days later, Robert Walpole brought Ostelman to the banquet where Prince Fred was, and made public his objections to Ostelman, and Prince Fred did the same As Robert Walpole had predicted, he admired Ostierman in turn.

And the result of such a performance is naturally obvious. With the help of Prince Fred, Ostelman's request on behalf of Russia was not directly rejected by the British monarch and ministers, and of course he would not actually send troops. , but gave a compromise opinion-that is, Britain will further increase the scale of bonds issued to West Russia, and further increase the amount of arms exports, and more importantly, it will maintain an acquiescing attitude towards Prussia's troop dispatch.

With these conditions, Ostelman is naturally satisfied, because he has achieved his goal, and with more economic and weapon support, it means that Western Russia can further expand the current army, and Prussia joined this war as a mercenary, which will increase the winning rate of Western Russia.

Soon, with the ringing of the New Year's bell, 1739 came slowly amidst waves of clouds and treacherous clouds. Compared with China, which is currently developing in full swing, Europe is full of a strange atmosphere at this time. The war was almost only a matter of time, but Britain began to fall into disputes with Spain.

Of course, the development of the relationship between Britain and Spain has a lot to do with France, probably because the two sides had signed the "Seville Treaty" in 1729, that is, the British side had agreed not to trade with Spanish colonies.In order to ensure the effective implementation of the treaty, Spain was allowed to board British ships for inspection within its territorial waters.

In 1731, Robert Jenkins, the captain of the British merchant ship Rebecca, claimed that he was boarded and searched by Spanish authorities in Spanish waters in the Caribbean Sea, and that he cut off one of his ears as a trophy. This avenged King George II of England, and the commander-in-chief of the British army in the Caribbean also wrote a report on the incident, hoping to get justice.

It was just that in the past, the British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole suppressed the matter in order to ease the severe situation, and it did not intensify the conflict of public opinion. But for some reason, Jenkins publicly described his experience again last year. By the way, he also showed his severed ears at the hearing of the House of Commons, which caused controversy in the House of Commons again.

Since the conflict between Britain and France is already very serious, many members of parliament believe that the cutting of Jenkins' ears is a public humiliation of the British Empire, which is related to the dignity of the entire country. Even George II also implicitly expressed His own dissatisfaction put a lot of pressure on the British cabinet headed by Robert Walpole.

In fact, the development of the matter unfolded in an unexpected way, because this matter was not really a big deal from the beginning, it was just because the British domestic business circles hoped to dominate the Atlantic Basin commercially and militarily, so they decided to War must be waged against Spain, so the declaration of war against Spain has been advocating, but Robert Walpole is resisting the pressure.

In addition to such a thing that may break out of war because of the 'ear', the more critical issue is the succession of the Austrian throne. Simply put, the current Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI is 54 years old, and his life has entered old age. However, he has not given birth to a male for a long time, and according to the rules of the Holy Roman Empire, the seat of the Holy Roman Emperor needs to be given over to other families.

As early as 1713, Charles VI had made preparations in advance. In order to prevent the loss of the throne due to the lack of male heirs, he directly appointed his daughter Maria Theresa as the heir in the 1713 State Edict , but the problem is that this state affairs edict needs to be signed by all the vassal states. At that time, some vassal states signed, but some vassal states resolutely refused to sign.

It is a rule for the emperor to take turns. You have been sitting in Habsburg for so many years, and it is time for other families to come to power and have a good time!

Not only the vassal states that have not signed are secretly looking forward to it in their hearts, even for those vassal states that have signed, this so-called state affairs edict is just a piece of paper that wipes the ass, which has no binding force at all, and it is impossible to tear it up. It's just a matter of one sentence.

Up to now, everyone is waiting for the old emperor Charles VI to die. Once he dies, a war to determine the throne of the Holy Roman Empire will break out, and this war will affect all countries in Europe. That is to say, the two major alliances headed by France and the United Kingdom cannot escape at all.

In other words, since 1739, three bombs have been hanging over the whole of Europe, and the explosion of these three bombs will bring Europe a heart-wrenching tear.

By February even the big British newspaper, The Weekly News, had a bold headline in bold letters.

"When will the war break out? When will it end?"

In this report, the three wars that may break out have been analyzed in depth, and the current situation of the United Kingdom has been analyzed, and a very shocking news has been drawn, that is, the United Kingdom is likely to face two wars at the same time. In addition to avoiding the war between Russia and Russia, the war between Britain and Spain and the war of Austrian succession are difficult to avoid.

Undoubtedly, this was a very difficult choice for Robert Walpole's cabinet, which has always insisted on peace. Even George II, who was warlike, was deeply dissatisfied. For this reason, he summoned Robert Walpole three times. It was right in court, and it was an open secret circulating in British politics, that Robert Walpole was not around for long.

The reason is simple. In the current world situation that is changing rapidly, the alternative 'isolation' policy pursued by Robert Walpole is not liked by the British, and too many arrogant British people think in their hearts George II is the best example of pointing fingers at the European continent next door.

In this environment, only one war or one defeat is enough for the opposition to oust Robert Walpole, who has been prime minister for eight years, and King George II will only be happy to see him become.

Of course, when that day comes, it will be time for Britain to slip further into the vortex of war.

(End of this chapter)